Biden calls out Republicans to help fight inflation

President Biden on Friday called on Republicans in Congress to help with efforts to combat inflation, following the April jobs report that showed job growth holding strong.

“There’s more work to do. I encourage Congressional Republicans to join us in our efforts to lower prices for families across the country, by making more in America, strengthening our supply chains, and cutting the energy and prescription drug costs,” Biden said in a statement.

Biden said that fighting inflation is a top priority for him and called it a challenge for families across the U.S., but said the U.S. is in “a position of strength.”

“The continued strength of our job market and the savings that families have built up over the last year means that our economy faces the challenges of COVID-19, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and global inflation from a position of strength,” he said.

The U.S. economy added 428,000 jobs. and the jobless rate held even at 3.6 percent, according to Labor Department data released on Friday, which was better than the roughly 300,000 added jobs that economists expected. The unemployment rate remained just 0.1 percentage points above its level in February 2020.

The report came after the Federal Reserve announced a half-point rate hike as part of its effort to cool rising inflation. More rate hikes are expected.

Biden has been battered in polls over inflation despite the hot job market, with voters unhappy about rising prices for gas, groceries and household items. Inflation is seen as a major headwind for Biden’s party in this fall’s midterm elections.

Biden touted the job creation in April and the decline in unemployment since he took office.

“Our plans and policies have produced the strongest job creation economy in modern times,” he said.

He said there have been only three months in the last 50 years where the unemployment rate is lower than it is now, attributing that as a “direct result” of the American Rescue Plan, COVID-19 vaccine program and his economic agenda.